The computer hardware and software have rapid progress as the processing speed of computer is growing faster. However, the document-editing tool has insufficient development as compared with the progress of computer hardware and software.
In general, the document-editing task by computer is achieved by typing with keyboard and with the help of mouse. The typing and editing of document require frequent operation of the keyboard and mouse. It is easy for the typewriter to have industrial disease.
The ergonomic keyboards have been developed to overcome these problems. However, the prior art ergonomic keyboards still require the use of mouse. Moreover, some keyboard manufactures have developed multimedia keyboard, wherein a plurality hot keys are incorporated on the standard keyboard and specific driver is also developed for operating this keyboard in Windows environments. When user presses a specific hot key, a specific function is executed. However, the multimedia keyboard requires the help of mouse at most time and still has following problems:
1. The number of hot keys is limited by keyboard area and twenty hot keys are nearly a maximum.
2. A driver program is required, which occupies system resource and reduce operation speed. The installation of software and compatibility of software are also problems.
For example, the popular Microsoft Office software has provided tools including word, excel, power point etc. Those programs enable user to finish document like personal and commercial letters, spread sheet and presentation data. However, in editing above documents, the user needs to operate keyboard, mouse and frequently composite keys on keyboard to perform certain editing operation. It is still inconvenient for user.